I've got a big problem with advertising blogging. I don't trust it in any way as an objective, controllable source of product and services promotion; sales and marketing stimulation.
Outright blatant propaganda is how I see blogging word-of-mouth promotional efforts.
Yes, I am aware that 'advertising' blogging is currently the foremost tool of word-of-mouth promotion. And, I'm also aware of one of the greatest proponents of word-of-mouth selling, Joe Girard – the world's all-time best car salesman. It was Joe's 'Rule of 250' that served as a guideline for all who at one time or another sold cars. The 'rule' went like this: If a car salesman pleased the customer, then over a period of time, the customer would tell his/her friends about their pleasant experience and purchase. Those people, in turn, would tell their friends, and in the end, there would be created a whole host of prospective new car buyers.
But, to the opposite, if the customer went away in a huff, or with the after-purchase feeling they had been gyped, then by the time the dissatisfied customer finished telling their '250' closest friends, family and associates, not only would the auto salesman not see any new prospects, but the entire car dealership could suffer a public relations black eye!
There's a great temptation for agencies (and clients, themselves) to jump on the blogging bandwagon and use this relatively new public influencing force to drum up market movement and, ultimately, product and services sales. All I can say to agency clients: you'd better be damned sure you want to sell to the blogging demographic.
See if this makes sense: Financially powerful people – those who have the greatest amount of dispensible wealth – are too busy earning and managing their money than to waste their time dwelling in blogging basements. Furthermore, consider this: Who makes up the demographic of bloggers? Who is it that has unlimited amount of unproductive time... non-income-producing time... to devote to blogging? Are these people the ones who are in an economic position to purchase high-ticket automobiles, real estate, investment plans and other luxury items? Are they even in the economic position to purchase the routine items of life such as appliances, home decor, insurance and medical plans?
As an advertiser I would feel very uneasy casting my marketing success in with the blogging lot. Look at what it is bloggers generate. How good is their information; what value their critiques and criticisms? Do they really understand what it is they are promoting, or tearing down? Agency types who promote the promise of word of mouth via blogging, I feel, are selling snake oil to their clients. While it may be true to some extent that the P.T. Barnum effect can be generated for a product by using the blogosphere, it is also true that an organized product dis-information effort can be just as easily generated by an advertiser's competition.
From what I've observed, blogging produces situations that quickly spin out of control. Anyone who has posted to a chat room, or responded to an on-line article or commentary, knows that the participants will say and claim anything just to see their words fly out over the Internet. After a while, what's said is worthless, and usually deteriorates to insults and outright nonsense. I can say the same holds true for blogging.
Worse than mere insults is the fact that product promotions can be de-railed, political campaigns thoroughly side-tracked, and personalities and institutions libeled and ruined because of the power behind blogging. I defy anyone who champions the promotional power of blogging to guarantee they can control it so that it produces favorable results. Regiment blogging so that it doesn't run out of control and deliver disasterous results to the client's products and reputation. The Burger King 'King' jumps to mind here – where bloggers got carried away with the 'King' who began appearing in semi-porn Internet videos. Shortly after the video clips of the nearly-nude king began circling the globe, there was a not-so-coincidental cutback of the 'King' in the Burger King television ads.
Let's see where the blog-word of mouth 'fad of the moment' ends up. Let's see if it can deliver results anywhere near the level of disciplined advertising. Let's see if blog-a-tising can be orchestrated and controlled to well serve its clients, or will it be the latest Internet beast to run roughshod over the best of advertising and marketing intentions? Yup, this is going to be interesting to see how word-of-mouth blogging works out. Very interesting, but I won't be holding my breath.
— Don McKay
